Marussia confirm Brazilian Luiz Razia

The Marussia Formula One team unveiled their new 2013 car this week and confirmed that Brazilian Luiz Razia would be replacing Timo Glock.

German driver Timo Glock left the team recently despite having a contract with the team which ran for the next couple of seasons.

But with finances the way they are in Formula One, Marussia opted to move into the pay-driver market and so rookie Razia will join the team.

Razia is just 23-years-old and last season finished runner-up in GP2. He will partner Max Chilton, who himself is only 21-years-old, which must put Marussia in contention for fielding the youngest and most inexperienced team in Formula One history?

But despite naming two drivers who are yet to complete a single lap in Formula One, 2013 promises to be a big year for the team.

Marussia will finally be using the Kers power-boost system, which has been in Formula One since 2011. It’s worth around 0.3 seconds per lap, so that is an immediate and substantial gain for the team who will be desperate to beat Caterham after coming so close to finishing 10th in the constructors championship last season.

As well as the addition of KERS, Marussia have had time to develop this car from scratch, something that the team team were unable to do last season due to many factors including their split from designer Nick Wirth.

So it all looks rather positive from Marussia.

‘It was said many times during 2012 that, notwithstanding the impressive steps we were taking in other areas of our development, Kers – or the lack of it – was the defining factor in determining our position relative to our immediate competitors. Marussia team boss John Booth told the BBC.

‘Kers was however a ‘strategic omission’ from our package until now; we opted to place the emphasis on aerodynamics, so that when we were in a position to bring the system to the car, we already had the strongest possible basis and its integration would be relatively straightforward.’

Booth added: ‘[Razia] is a very quick and tenacious driver. Along with Max [Chilton], we are fielding a young but incredibly ambitious pairing.’